“Well! Mrs. Pullen,” he said, as he shook hands cordially with Margaret and the doctor, “and what important business is it, that you want to consult me upon? I thought, at the very least, that I should meet my cousin Arthur here!”
“If I had had Arthur, perhaps I should not have needed you,” replied Margaret, with a faint smile. “But really, Mr. Pennell, I am in want of advice sorely, and the Doctor agreed with me that you would be the best person to whom I could apply!”
“I am at your service, Madam!” said the young man, gaily, as he seated himself.
Then she told him the story of Harriet Brandt—how Ralph had met her at the Lion d’Or, and devoted his time to her—and how she was persecuting him with letters, and had threatened to follow him to the Camp and interview him there.
“And it must be put a stop to, you know, Mr. Pennell,” she concluded, “not only for Ralph’s sake and Elinor’s, but for the sake of the Walthamstowes and my husband. I am sure that Arthur would be exceedingly annoyed at any scandal of that sort, and especially as Lord Walthamstowe is so old a friend of his family!”
Anthony Pennell had looked very grave during her recital. After a pause he said,
“Are you sure that Ralph has not given this young lady good cause to run after him?”
“I think not—I hope not! There was very little amusement in Heyst, and this girl, and the people with whom she is now staying—a Baron and Baroness Gobelli, they call themselves—were amongst the visitors to the Lion d’Or. Miss Leyton is rather a stickler for the proprieties, and used to refuse to walk out with Ralph alone in the evenings, and I was too much occupied with my poor darling baby to accompany them,” said Margaret, in a faltering voice, “so Ralph took to going to the Baroness’s private rooms instead, and became intimate with Miss Brandt!”
“You acknowledge then, that he was intimate with her!”
“I think he must have been—because it appears that he had agreed to join their party at Brussels, when—when—my great trouble obliged him to return to England with us instead.”